Unison Research

In exclusive partnership with top-tier modification house Parts ConneXion, Underwood HiFi is proud to offer the following carefully tested performance enhancement packages for the Unison Research Unico hybrid integrated.

By virtue of selling consumer-direct, we can offer these super-charged, brand-new models for a better price than the same modifications would cost retro-fitted - though we offer that, too.

Unico Integrated amp

We are proud to introduce a DRAMATIC upgrade to the Unison Research Unico Integrated amp. Together with Chris Johnson, the founder and ex-president of Sonic Frontiers, I am now offering two modifications to the Unico integrated amplifier. The Unico has received rave reviews as a killer $1700.00 Integrated amp. It was Sam Tellig's (Stereophile) Product of the Year and well as receiving awards from 6moons.com and many other leading magazines. We feel that the stock Unico is the State of the Art in Hybrid or Solid State designs for under $2000.00 retail.

We have designed two levels of mods for the unit that dramatically improve its performance. The Level-1 mod is $850.00 + frt and the Level-2 is $1190.00 + frt.

The following details the Level-1 mod:

a) Two sheets of SOUNDCOAT chassis damping material are cut & applied where applicable to the inner chassis

Sonic improvements with the Mods

In Level-1 we improve the midrange and make the unit sound more liquid and tubelike. The Level-1 unit now sounds more like a tube amp and less like a hybrid. This was the major design goal of the Level-1 mod and we think that we have accomplished the task.

Imaging is more focused while the entire soundstage is both deeper and wider.

The unit is a little quieter with a little more low level detail.

The Level-1 mod is a very nice upgrade from the stock unit but the Level-2 makes this high value amp a true Category KILLER

LEVEL-2 IS LIKE A SHOT OF ADRENALINE

Transparency is improved over both the stock and Level-1 mod. You get a cleaner look into the musical soundstage.

Dynamics are dramatically improved. Its like the amp gains more power. The stock unit is rated at 80 watts but does not really excel in dynamics compared to its more powerful, and more expensive competition. The stock units real forte is its beautiful midrange performance. The Level-2 adds killer dynamics and has much better pace. It seems to play much louder on peaks. There is a lot more excitement in the music. If the stock unit is 80 watts the Level-2 mod seems to up the power.

The amp is Quieter.... The Silences are BLACKER...It thus resolves more low level Detail, has better ambience retrieval and is much more three dimensional.

Bass response is improved big time. Both bass depth and mid-bass slam are much improved on the Level-2

Treble detail (both micro and macro) and dynamics are improved and now keep up with anything that we have heard under $5k.

The Level-2 Unico is an amazing amplifier that simply has no match at anywhere near its cost.